A/Prof Tan Swee Ching and his team have successfully developed a novel solar energy triggered, low-energy method to pull clean water from humid air that exists above sea surface. A super-hygroscopic hydrogel, capable of absorbing more than 4X its own weight with water was employed for the process. The team had constructed a floating prototype which was used for on-field testing of the proposed mechanism. This work could pave way for a futuristic membrane-less and zero-energy approach to desalination and it has been published in Advanced Materials.
